Bulgarian postman with a noble message

Ivan, the postman of a mostly deserted Bulgarian village on the border with Turkey, is running for mayor on a rather unconventional message: If he wins the election, he will welcome Syrian refugees, who now creep silently through the rural terrain, so they can settle in the village's many vacant, dilapidated properties and breathe new life into the settlement.

Golyam Dervent (pop. 38) - known as as the "great gate" due to its location - is the setting of Tonislav Hristov latest documentary "The Good Postman," which is screening at the ongoing Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and resembles a microcosm of the drama that has been unfolding in Europe since the outbreak of the Syrian refugee crisis. Bulgaria has joined other nations in the Balkan region in taking a hardline response to the influx of migrants and asylum seekers into the continent. Less than two decades since...